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Sometimes I take it for granted what I think people already know. I told a friend of mine that I had quit smoking on Chantix over a year ago. She said she would like to quit but Chantix was to expensive. I suggested she try to apply for help with her prescription through Pfizer. She did and both her husband and herself get Chantix for free for one year!! Woo Hoo! Isn’t that cool. So she is all excited and told all of her friends. This is what she sent to all of her Facebook friends:

A NOTE TO ANYBODY WANTING TO QUIT SMOKING! A friend of mine recently told me about a program that Pfizer offers for people wishing to quit smoking. If you meet the income requirements Pfizer will give you Chantix free for one full year! They make you re-apply every year, so technically you can get it for longer than a year, as long as you still qualify! Ed & I received our first 3 month supply yesterday! What a great deal! If we hadn’t found out about this program the medicine would have costs us $136/month each! We started the medicine today & already can see it working! Cigarettes taste horrible! You go to http://www.Pfizer.com to get information & the application! If you qualify Pfizer will send a 3 month supply to your doctor’s office, for free, every 3 months, for an entire year! Ed & I are very excited to quit smoking, we have a lot of hope that this medicine will help us do it!!! Wish us luck!!!

Here is a Quick List of Quit Smoking sites on the internet. This is by no means a complete list but some of my favorites that helped me along the way:

QuitNetWhyQuitAmerican Cancer Society -Nationwide network of free local quit lines at 800-QUITNOW, questions answered by e-mail, message boards, brochures, other information on quitting smokingAmerican Lung Association -800-LUNG-USA-Freedom From Smoking online program, information about quitting smoking, facts about lung diseases and treatments, moreChantixSmokefree.govNational Cancer Institute -877-44U-QUIT-Detailed information about tobacco and how to quit, surgeon general’s reports, live messaging service at Cancer.gov/HelpNicotine-Anonymous.org -415-750-0328-List of local meetings in the United States and worldwide, publications in nine languages

On January 1, 2009 it was one year without a cigarette. According to Quitnet.com that is equal to
Your Quit Date is: 1/1/2008 10:00:00 AM
Time Smoke-Free: 371 days, 7 hours, 10 minutes and 16 seconds
Cigarettes NOT smoked: 12995
Lifetime Saved: 3 months, 9 days, 6 hours

Now that is awesome! Thanks to Chantix, lots of prayers, and good old determination, I haven’t given in to any cravings to smoke for over a year! It is truly a miracle and I am soooo grateful.

I was scared that I couldn’t quit. It seemed I was doomed to a short life of smoking forever. Then a long came Chantix and I tried it a couple of times. The first time it made me sick and I thought. Forget it. I don’t want to throw up all the time. It’s not worth that!! Then I remembered that Chemotherapy makes you throw up. There are no easy choices here. So I tried it again and this time I resolved myself to the fact that indeed I was going to throw up and I would just have to change the way I walked into my building at work so there was bushes near by to vomit in so now one would see me. Yuk, I know but…I was determined to quit this time. I didn’t care if I threw up every day, I knew I had to quit. I wanted to quit.

Fortunately, the nausea doesn’t last that long and I never did vomit in the bushes. But, the fact that I was willing to do that, to go to any length to quit smoking was something I had never done before.

I gained weight pretty fast, like 20 pounds the first month. The second month I gained 7 pounds and that was it. I have not gained or lost any more weight. Losing weight, depriving myself of anything is not on my agenda today. Today, I don’t smoke cigarettes. Period. That’s it. I’ll diet, deprive myself of food or chocolate later. I suppose if I gain any more weight I might have to think about a ‘Diet’, but not now. As long as I am eating healthy and walking a couple of miles a day, then I’m not worried. I read once that a person who quits smoking would have to gain 70 lbs. to do the damage to their heart, etc. that smoking does. Wow! 27 lbs is a long way from 70!

I’ll write more later. I plan to include tips and “How to’s” the entire month of January. So check back often. And if you have started with Chantix, hang in there. It really does work.

On November 19, 2007 it was the ‘Great American Smokeout‘ and I had decided to try once again to quit smoking. I didn’t think I would make it through the day but I was doing something different this time. I had decided to try Chantix.

Now you may be asking yourself, wait a minute, that was over a year ago. What happened?

Well, I was doing fantastic. Not smoking, cravings weren’t bad, so I decided to quit taking the Chantix. That’s typical of me. I find something that works and I quit doing it. Kind of like walking with my dog for 30 minutes every day. I felt great when I did that so I quit doing that! Why? Who knows.

Anyway, back to quitting smoking with Chantix. I quit taking it and 18 days later I was smoking again and it happened to be on January 1, 2008. I thought that was funny too. I started smoking on New Year’s Day. Most people quit on New Years. So, January 2, 2008 I smoked my last cigarette at 10:00 a.m. on my way to a Doctor appointment that had been scheduled a while back to discuss my Osteoporosis. As it turned out, we discussed that and my quitting smoking. He gave me a new Rx for Chantix and sent me on my way. I started on the Chantix again immediately and haven’t smoked a cigarette since. I have been off the Chantix since April, 2008 and I am happy to say, I am somewhat sane and still smoke free.

Yes indeed, I am a living miracle. It is almost as if I never smoked and it’s almost as if I never quit. Does that make sense? After smoking two packs a day for 27 years it’s hard for me to truly believe that I am a non-smoker. After this long without a cigarette, it’s hard for me to believe that I ever smoked at all. It’s very strange. I am looking forward to my one year anniversary without a cigarette. I am so thankful for all the support and encouragement from my children and family and friends. I do have my moments when all I want to do is light up once again, but it does pass eventually. Don’t believe them when they tell you the cravings only last a few seconds and then pass. Some of mine have been days of crying and cursing, wanting some relief. It is God’s grace that has gotton me this far.

I have had many dreams where I smoke and I am always so relieved when I wake up and realize it was just a dream. That is how this last year has been for me, a dream, but a happy one!

Pfizer Research Chief’s Personal Take on Chantix
Posted by Scott Hensley
With questions about the safety of anti-smoking pill Chantix hurting sales, Pfizer’s head of R&D took to the opinion pages of the local paper in support of the medicine over the weekend.

Martin Mackay

Martin Mackay (pictured) wrote in the Day of New London, Conn., about his firsthand experience with the health toll of “cigarette addiction, having watched both of my parents smoke for most of their adult lives and my mother die of lung disease.”

His basic message was in keeping with points the company hit last week in a roundtable meeting with journalists. Quitting smoking is important, but hard. Chantix, despite some risks, remains a safe and effective option, in Pfizer’s view.

The drugmaker has upgraded the cautions on Chantix’s instructions to advise patients to stop taking Chantix in case of agitation, depression, or unusual behavior. Thoughts of suicide are a particular worry. A heightened concern about risk from Chantix led the FAA to ban the use of the drug by pilots and air-traffic controllers last month.

In his Chantix defense, Mackay couldn’t stop with data alone. He invoked some hometown pride in Chantix, one of Pfizer’s “homegrown” medicines.

The active ingredient in Chantix was invented by scientists in labs in Groton, Conn., on the eastern bank of the Thames River. On the opposite shore, in New London, other Pfizer workers designed and ran the clinical tests that led to the FDA’s approval of Chantix in May 2006. Pfizer employs 6,000 people in the area.

Smoke Free 90 Days!

Wow! Now that’s a new record for me. It’s a miracle that’s for sure, one day at a time. Never underestimate the power of prayer. And I can’t forget the Chantix. I know I couldn’t have made it this far without it.

I have not been going to the gym. I miss going because it is such a great reminder that I no longer smoke. I tend to take it for granted that I am not smoking anymore. Can you imagine? As desperate as I was to stop and all those times I tried, I have now become complacent. When I go work out every step on that treadmill reminds me how lucky I am that I can breathe and still have the oxygen and stamina to walk two or three miles at a pretty good pace. Now if it gives me such a great feeling, why don’t I go? I have a million reasons. I forget to bring my shoes/clothes in the morning, my son works at 5:00 and needs my car most nights during the week, I never think about going in the morning before work, and I never think about going home changing shoes/clothes and then heading for the gym. Okay, no more excuses. I just figured out how I can overcome the minor obstacles I have thrown in my path. After all, I am paying for it every month, I might as well use it, right?

Well, our KU Jayhawks have made it to the Final Four once again. I am so excited. Those kids have worked hard and I hope they go all the way! Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

Smoke Free 80 Days!

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me!

Nicotine is a drug used for relaxation, no?Nicotine is a drug used as sustenance due to frequent situations where one is expected to behave well beyond the so-called ‘rational’ task, to deal with the more than the expected……and only to those addicted.To others such a task is normal and easy without any chemical help.To those addicted, it is a staple of life.

I want to see Nicotine as a ‘drug of relief’ instead of a ‘drug of sustenance’ (AKA ‘BECAUSE I HAVE TO’ ).Thus, due to my stubbornness and my expectations of being perfect,I will only be smoking one pack per day from this day on, down from two packs per day.I got off work at 9:30 PM.It is 12:26 AM now, and I’ve had three smokes since then, the normal sum is around 15 smokes, amazing?….and it doesn’t bug me.Thus, why should the force of habit make me smoke when my natural dependence to nicotine doesn’t even WANT it?Answer:I shouldn’t. I should only ‘use’ such a ‘drug’ when I ‘need’ to.

I may never ‘need’ to….but it’s a step towards a future smoke-free life.I should never ‘need’ anything besides myself and those close to me, but the word ‘need’ is almost synonymous with the word ‘want’……Do I want what I need, or do I need what I want?One way to tell, and I’m trying to figure out that question by literally cutting my smoking in half.

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